The Tampa Bay Rays extended star shortstop Wander Franco before the lockout, and are currently showing a surprising degree of interest in veteran free agent first baseman Freddie Freeman.
However, we shall not lose sight of the fact that they also made an excellent acquisition before the halt of play in December.
“Reminder: Corey Kluber is a Ray,” they tweeted on Tuesday, showing a short clip of one of his pitches in slow-motion missing a bat in Tampa’s training camp.
Reminder: Corey Kluber is a Ray pic.twitter.com/emDn3VFnBf
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) March 15, 2022
In a Rays rotation filled with young fireballers, such as Shane Baz and Shane McClanahan, Kluber’s experience should be an asset.
More Than Just An Experienced Guy
He is not just a voice of experience, though: amid several injuries, including one on his shoulder, he put up some very good numbers with the New York Yankees in 2021.
Kluber managed to make 16 starts last year, covering 80 innings.
He had a solid 24.0 percent strikeout rate and a 9.7 percent walk rate: his ERA was an acceptable 3.83 and he finished with 1.5 Wins Above Replacement (WAR).
He even threw a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers before injuring his shoulder and missing several months of action in the summer.
Kluber is about to turn 36, and he should not be expected to pitch 200 innings anymore, like he did during his Cy Young days with the Cleveland Guardians.
He is in the perfect organizations to manage his innings, though, and Tampa has the depth and the game plan to monitor his workload and make sure he makes it to the postseason in one piece.
Overall, he is the voice of experience on a young roster, but there is more than enough gas left in the tank, or in this case, his right arm.
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